Montgomery-17

[rigbee]

Hi folks, My name is Fabian and I'm interested in a m-17. I live in Vancouver,BC,Canada and was wondering if there are any owners of a m-17 near me that would not mind me having a look at their boat. I don't expect to sail her, just have a look,hear your tips/advice. I don't mind a drive and even as far as Seattle would work. They don't stay on the market long so we are going to order one from Bob Eeg at Norsea, unless something steers me clear.

By the way I have found this site to be a great asset concerning anything boat related and look forward to joining the fold.

Thx for any help.
Fabian

[JohnRPollard]

Hi Fabian, Welcome to Sailnet!

I really like those little Monty's. But I can't think of any one off hand who has one. Hopefully you'll hear back.

Another possibility is to take a look at the back issues of either Good Old Boat, or more likely Small Craft Advisor magazine. Just a year or two ago there was a great article in one of these two about a flotilla of Monty's, WWP's, etc that made a club cruise up in your neck of the woods. If you can find the article, you may be able to identify some local boats/owners. If nothing else, Small Craft Advisor usually has a few for sale in their classifieds section.

All the best of luck!

P.S. My understanding and strong recommendation is that the best route with these is to purchase a used model that was built by Montgomery rather than ordering new from the other builder.

[rigbee]

Thanks for the quick reply John,
I'm sure I'll find someone,after all who doesn't like talking about their boat?
I'm with you, the Monty is as sharp as they come,although I like the portlights installed vs the lexan.
I just want a boat under 20 ft so the moorage only cost me the leg and the arm is left over for extra's(fun stuff). I just want a boat that I like, and can easily afford. I don't like the notion of being a slave to my boat.
Thx again

[rigbee]

I forgot to ad that I have been looking used but they seem to go so quickly.

[SlowButSteady]

If you are thinking of buying a new Montgomery directly from Nor'sea, you might want to Google "Nor'Sea", "Bob Eeg", "lawsuit", etc. Apparently, Nor'Sea/Eeg went bankrupt several years ago (not a terrible uncommon thing for a small boat shop) and there was a lot of bad blood between Nor'Sea/Eeg and some of their customers. Jim Montgomery (no relation to the Montgomery 17, etc.) had a website for several years detailing his problems with the company, but it has been down for some time now. I don't know if it was taken down due to legal action, the parties finally settled, or what. But, I think it would be prudent to take a strong caveat emptor attitude when dealing with any small shop.

[rigbee]

Thanks for the reply Slowbutsteady and I already looked at all that. It's the reason I have been so slow to order new. You run into the issue of getting what you want but also protecting yourself from a bad experience. Granted a lot of builders make mistakes which cause's a new buyer to be leery. I would prefer to walk up to a finished boat,look her over and once satisfied,buy her.
I have been scanning the used boats but ,as I said before, they seem to go so quickly. Anyone that owns one seems to be very happy with them.

Cheers!

[MarkCK]

Can you still buy a new Montgomery sailboat? The one website that I looked at that kinda looked like the manufactures site gave info on everything but where/how to buy one.

[rigbee]

Yes Mark, apparently Nor'sea still produces them.I really like the 17 for its under 20 ft size, and the ability to dry sail it is a bonus. For someone that just wants to mess about in boats...what more do you need?

[MarkCK]

Does that include the 23? There is a lot more marketing info on the other models.

[rigbee]

Hi Mark,
I get the impression that they do offer the 23.